Most every American home these days has a Christmas, whether it be artificial or real, large or small.  Some people decorate their evergreen trees outside of their homes as well.  There are many legends about the origin of the Christmas tree, and Christmas trees have been decorated for many years in many different ways.  As we approach the time for the celebration of Christmas this year, let’s consider a different kind of tree.

        “Words from Above” in Matthew 1 in the Bible speak about the family tree of Jesus, the one whose birth we officially celebrate at Christmas, and who is the “reason for the season”.  To some, a family tree is very boring and uninteresting, but to others it is fascinating.  The family tree of Jesus is important because it can be traced back to Abraham, whom God promised to make the “father of many nations”.  The Gospel of Matthew traces the family tree of Jesus through Joseph, who married Mary, the mother of Jesus.

        Purity of ancestry was extremely important to the Jewish people, and tracing their ancestry back to Abraham was most important of all.  One of the most amazing observations to be made about the genealogy of Jesus is the inclusion of four women, which was very unusual.

        The first woman to be mentioned was a Canaanite woman named Tamar, daughter-in-law to Judah, the son of Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel.  When her husband died, Judah promised her she could marry one of his other sons, but he failed to keep his promise.  Tamar then posed as a prostitute to seduce Judah and became pregnant, eventually forcing Judah himself to marry her.  It was through Judah that the Messiah would come to deliver Israel from the power of sin and spiritual death

The next woman was Rahab, who also was not Jewish at all, but was a citizen of Jericho and a known prostitute.  She was accepted into the nation of Israel because she hid the spies sent into the city by Joshua.  She and her family were spared when Israel attacked and destroyed the city of Jericho and its people.  She spared the two spies because she believed that the God of Israel was the God of heaven and earth.

Rahab’s son Boaz married Ruth, a Moabite who became grandmother to King David.  David committed adultery with Bathsheba, a Canaanite. So, none of the four women were Jewish. He eventually married her and they had a son named Solomon. So, God made four unlikely women a part of the family tree of Jesus. Likewise, God can make us a part of His family and His kingdom.